This project proposes to continue to address the problems of student retention and performance in four "gatekeeper" courses in chemistry and biology: general chemistry I, organic chemistry I, introduction to biology, and cell biology. These courses currently serve as distinct challenges to the timely progress and academic success of students in the biomedically-relevant majors, chemistry, biochemistry and biology/molecular biology. In the new four-year cycle we will address these challenges with a number of strategies. The principal activity will center around utilization of the small-group/intensive learning and problem solving design for the recitation/discussion sessions in each of these courses. These in-class support activities will be supplemented with regular meetings or tutoring sessions between students in the RESKUE-supported courses and the RESKUE mentors. We also intend to refine and further develop assessment strategies and tools for several of the chosen 'gatekeeper' courses with the help of the CSU MBRS-RISE Program's outside assessment consultant (Race & Associates, Ltd.). Our goals are improvements in course retention rates and course grades of +5% to +10% over our baseline values as measured in the last two and a half years (one and a half years for Biology 171 which was a new course initially offered fall 2000). In addition we will focus on the development of our RESKUE mentors as student leaders and future contributors to biomedical progress. We have discovered during our review of the first two and a half years of RESKUE at Chicago State University, that an unforeseen and fortunate outcome of our program has been the intellectual and social-service development of our undergraduate mentors.